“To reach a port we must set sail – Sail, not tie at anchor Sail, not drift.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt Hello, Lovelies! This morning I am reminded that I am still out on a wide green sea in my tiny boat, and that occasionally the weather shall be rough. That is the nature of […]
Easy Christmas Food Gifts to Make
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ~ Mother Teresa Home-made treats can make beautiful gifts for friends and family, and are useful to have sitting in the pantry as an ’emergency’ gift in case one’s required. They are also thoughtful thank-you presents for hosts. Of course, not everything […]
5 Random Things That Make Me Happy
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien 1. Little details of loveliness that show people care. Fresh flowers on a cafe table… 2. Singing along to my favourite songs in the car! 3. Being lost in a book… 4. Seeing […]
Feather Oracle – For Inspired Messages!
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.” ~ Emily Dickinson Every night at my farm a big owl alights on my clothesline. I feel very safe and loved in the presence of this owl. Often I am […]
Three Key Strategies for Dealing with Life’s Hardships
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s […]
What Are You Waiting For?
“TIME: Today Is My Everything” ~ Richie Norton Sometimes it’s good to rest, to step back and take time out, to think on things for a while… But eventually, you’re going to need to take action. Not much gets done on its own. What one thing can you do this week that will make things […]
Easy Peach and Vanilla Jam Recipe
“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today.” “It must come sometime to jam today,” Alice objected. “No it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every other day. Today isn’t any other day, you know.” ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Have you ever made jam? Most people seem to think it’s some […]
Happy Birthday, Harry!
“Birthdays are nature’s way of telling you to eat more cake.” ~ Jo Brand Harry, our young Blue Heeler cattle dog, is celebrating his first birthday. We’ve started with a big run-around in the orchard and a few celebratory laps of the top paddocks. There is so much pleasure in being young, with good knees and […]
Auntie and the Fairy Mound
“Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.” ~ W.B. Yeats, The Collected Poems Another post that links in to my Kimberley Story… Like most stories, mine is not a linear one. It would be so much […]
Life -Disconnected!
“We are creating and encouraging a culture of distraction where we are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around us, and increasingly unable to engage in long-form thinking. People now feel anxious when their brains are unstimulated.” ~ Joe Kraus There was a huge storm here at the farm on Saturday afternoon. The Black Cockatoos […]
Storms and Black Cockatoos
“Nothing ever goes to plan, Nicole. You should know that by now!” Ben Phillips (husband) It’s a gorgeous sunny morning here at the farm, but oh, what a storm we had last night. Thunder, lightning, hail, ferocious winds and then we lost power, right at sunset. So my day of enforced rest rolled on into […]
Do you need an Enforced Rest?
“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away […]
Easy Beef Rissoles with Sundried Tomato and Feta
“Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree on what they are made of, where they come from, or how often they should appear.” ~ Lemony Snicket, The Carnivorous Carnival Growing up, beef rissoles (meatballs) were a staple in my family. They are easy to make, economical, and make a filling meal which usually yields […]
Darling, she’s not okay
“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.” ~ Dr. Robert H. Goddard 1882-1945 Yesterday I went down to the local shopping mall nice and early. I needed to […]
My Best Friend, Bert
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” ~ Will Rogers I’m in Brisbane for a few days. I’ve got some work to do, and some medical things. Ben needed to go back to the farm so he took Harry the pup, and left Bert here […]
Why are you following this path?
“You’ve got this life and while you’ve got it, you’d better kiss like you only have one moment, try to hold someone’s hand like you will never get another chance to, look into people’s eyes like they’re the last you’ll ever see, watch someone sleeping like there’s no time left, jump if you feel like […]
Remembrance Day 2013
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” ~ Thomas Campbell On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the giant guns of the Western Front finally fell silent. An armistice was declared and the Great War of 1914 -1918 came to an end. 70 million people […]
How to work out what your heart wants…
“…everyone wants to be excited by something magical and wondrous – to be reminded of how they once saw the world …” ~ John Geddes You don’t need to figure everything out on your own. There are always signposts, gentle nudges in the right direction, a trail of breadcrumbs, a giant flashing neon sign. Problem is, […]
Easy Peach Chutney Recipe
“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ” […]
The Art of Surrender
“Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life and see how life suddenly starts working for […]
Well, that was a bit premature…
“Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” ~ David G. Allen I was kind of hoping to be sleeping right now. It’s 2am, and I was only fretfully sleeping at best between 8 and 11pm. Now I’m wide awake and I know the […]
Sorry, I didn’t Blog!
“My head aches, my eyes burn, my arms and legs have given up, and my face in the mirror has a grayish cast. The bed, across the room, calls in its unmistakable lover’s croon, Come to me, come, only I can make you truly happy, oh, how happy I’ll make you, don’t resist, remember how […]
The Friends Who Came to Visit
“When we honestly ask ourselves which people in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us […]
A little Solitude is good for the Soul
“Language… has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.” ~ Paul Johannes Tillich, The Eternal Now If you’re energetically sensitive like me, then you might already understand the importance of time on your own. Interacting with others draws […]